Every time I hear someone on Town Council urging us to come to a consensus, I can’t help but think of the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s definition: “The process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no one believes but to which no one objects.” We […]
All posts in category Town staff
Consensus? Maybe Not
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 4, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/03/04/consensus-maybe-not/
Move in
At last Wednesday’s Town Council meeting, the town’s Housing & Community staff presented an innovative plan to encourage municipal employees to live in Chapel Hill. Stronger communities result when people live in the town where they work, and work in the town where they live. Not to mention the improved functioning of the town in […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 26, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/02/26/move-in/
What’s worth preserving
Would a time traveler from the turn of the 19th century into the 20th, walking through one of Chapel Hill’s historic districts, recognize the neighborhood? Amber Kidd, a preservationist with the N.C. Historic Preservation Office who advises local governments on how to set up and run a Historic District Commission, put that question to Chapel […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 22, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/01/22/whats-worth-preserving/
Happier New Year
We started a new tradition this New Year’s Eve – we wrote all the bad things that happened in 2017 on little slips of paper, then tossed them into the fireplace. It was not as big of a bonfire as I expected, given the national politics and ripples into global and state affairs. And it […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 1, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/01/01/happier-new-year/
Park, Housing: Not an Either-Or
In 2003, as a taxpayer I voted against spending more than $16 million to expand and renovate the Chapel Hill Public Library. The town had a small but functional library, surrounded by the woods and trails of Pritchard Park, and while the demand would only grow as the town grew, it seemed to me we […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 4, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/12/04/park-housing-not-an-either-or/
Will we always have Paris?
Maybe Town Council’s next intercity visit should be to Paris, a city that Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane cited as her favorite because of its low buildings. At council’s Nov. 15 meeting, we reviewed a concept plan for a 5-story building of apartments, offices and retail, with 68 parking spaces on less than 4 acres at […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 27, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/11/27/will-we-always-have-paris/
Growth on what conditions
For 10 years before becoming Chapel Hill’s planning director, Ben Hitchings held the comparable role in Morrisville. There, he used a process called “conditional zoning” to develop and redevelop parcels to spur growth. At council’s Nov. 15 meeting, we heard a staff proposal to add conditional zoning to our Land Use Management Ordinance. CZ makes […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 20, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/11/20/growth-on-what-conditions/
Sitting on the Historic District Commission
In an interview aired on National Public Radio recently, Magazine Editor Hall-of-Famer Tina Brown described her desk-on-a-treadmill, noting, “Sitting is the new smoking.” That shot a little dart of fear in my heart, because my role as a Town Council member requires me to sit a lot. Council meetings, work sessions, committees, task forces and […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 23, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/10/23/sitting-on-the-historic-district-commission/
Economics of affordability
A council member told of going to dinner at a new restaurant in town and having to wait a half-hour for a table. Initially, he took that as a good sign of how well the new business was faring. But once he was seated, he noticed that several tables had been removed since the last […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 9, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/10/09/economics-of-affordability/
Fighting back for DACA
Donald Trump seems to delight in causing chaos, regardless of the consequences. Like a toddler in the throes of a temper-tantrum, breaking everything he can get his little hands on, Trump gets attention through the disruption he creates. And Congress, the only authority figure that can put him in time out, instead stands to the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 18, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/09/18/fighting-back-for-daca/